Jail door operating and locking system



y I H .1. RALSTON 2,288,741 1 JAIL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 3,1939 .9 Sheets-Sheet l s F1E J mmvrox Harry J. Pa/szon A TTORNEY July7, 1%2; H. J. RALSTON JAIL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 3, 1939 9 Sheets-Sheet 2 1 12v VENTOR Harry J. ,Pa/sfo/v A rrokzvz y 1942. H. J. RALSTON JAIL noon OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM 9 Sheets-SheetS Filed Jan. 3, 1939 N VENTOR ry Pa/sfon I m f/ar 02 A TTORNE Y July 7, 1942.

Filed Jan. 3, 1939 9 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN V EN TOR. Harry J. Pa/sfon ATTORNEY (um a \H Wm? vb I L. A P .L F 7 n w UH m %N F M 1Q m w j 3% 3% N D. w v I R I July 1, 1942.

H. J. RALSTON JAIL boon OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 3, 1939 9 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. any J Par/fife? M m,

ATTORNEY July 7, 1942. H. J. RALSTON JAIL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 3, 1939 9 Sheets-Sheet 6 Harry J. ,Pa/sfan BY M01194 ATTORNEY Filed Jan. 3, 19:59 9 Sheets-Sheet '1' I INVENTOR Harry J Fa/s/on w ATTORNEY.

July 7, 1942. H. J. RALSTON JAIL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM 9 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed Jan. 3, 1939 10 an. 'III/IIIIIIII/Id my; ulna/1.

' INVENTOR Harry Ea/s/on Ag-M ATTORNEY July 7, 1942. H. J. RALSTON JAIL DOOR OPERATING AND LOCKING SYSTEM Filed Jan. 3, 1939 9 Sheets-Sheet 9 a remote p'oint.

flexing and master operating bars. tion of the indexing bar andof the other workthe line llof Fig.=.6.

Patented July 7, 1942 .JAILIDOORIOPERATI :SYSTEM NG AND LOCKING Harry J. .Ralston, San Francisco, Calif., assignor to Pacific :Electric :Manufacturing Corporation, 'San'F-rancisco, G'ali'fi, a corporation of Cali- Jornia .Application January 3, 1939, Serial No. 248,920

3 Claims. (01. 189'7) This-invention relatesgenerally to systems and equipment f fOI operating and locking jail or ipriscn doors, particularly where it is desired to control 'the principal operations from 'a remote point.

ment, and-which will afiord utmost safety against unauthorized tampering with the "doors, or abnormal conditions-such ,as -the blocking 'of certain .doorsagainstcomplete closing.

More particularly the presentinvention :is concerned with an arrangement of 'jail doors where it is :desired to permit individual opening and locking'of the doors by key, with provision for unison rOf opening "and rclosing movements from A particular feature of the present invention is the ;provision of means for holding a partially open door against lfurther opening movement, in Fthe event normal closing is blocked.

An additional object of the @invention is to afford a 'novel mechanism :for correlating the :functionsofimaster operating means with an'indexing means, whereby 'a plurality of different operating: conditions are madeipossible.

Additional obj-ects of the invention will appear fromthe following descriptiondn which the .pre-

ferred embodiment of the invention .has been; .set forth i-in detail -in conjunction with 'the accells. J Fig. .2 is a side elevational detail, partly in cross-section, showing parts associated with a sliding jail door, together with theassociated in- The posiing parts corresponds "to dead locked position.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional detail showing .a

lower bolt lock avhich can- .be provided for the sliding door.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 butshowing the parts in another operating position, namely" tion corresponding to the operating position il- .lustrated in iFig l.

.Fig. 6 is a crossesectional detail taken along the line --6 of Fig.4.

Fig. 7 is a press-sectional detail .taken along It is an object of 'the invention to provide a Fig. .8 .is .a cross-sectional detail taken alon the.line8.8.of Fig. 4. i

Fig. .9 is ,a view similar .to "Fig. 2, lbutshowing the operating parts .iinvanother operating position hereinafter termed the free .unlockedfposition.

Fig. .10 isa viewsimilar-to Fig. 2,..showing1the parts in .another operating position hereinafter termed thelever position.

:Flig. 11 .is a View .like'Fig. .2, butshowing the parts [in another operating position hereinafter referred toasthe key.position.

Fig. .12 is a view similar to .Eig.j2, butshowing the parts in the so-called ratchet position, for a door whichis partially opened.

.Fig. .13 is .a cross-sectional detail illustrating the construction of the-control cabinet .and the master operating lever.

Fig. 1.4 .illustrates the indexing lever and the linkage associating the same with .the index .bar.

Referring first to .Fig. 1 .of .the drawings, there is shown a tier of cells it .in a prison o1 jail, equipped with the .slidin 'jail doors it. At .a convenient .location suchas :at one end of the .tier and in thejailers corridor, thereisa cabinet 12 which serves to 'enclose the operating ,levers to be presently described. Extending above the .doors .ll there is a .hcusing M which serves to enclose certainoperating partsincluding thein- -.dex .and master operating .bars. .Each of the .doorsis provided witha lock assembly H5, which includes .the usual .tumblersandlatch bolt to be operated by the jailers key.

The vertical .frame portions I] of the doors are provided with keeper bars, which .as will be presently explained .are movable .in ,a vertical .dimotion by movements of theindex bar. Referring now to Fig.2 the master controland index bars are designated by inumerals 4.8 and ,[9 respectively. For thesupportof these bars suitable brackets 2! are provided .atspaced intervals within the .housing .IA, .and these brackets carry rollers 22, 23-and .24. with whichthebars engage. .The master operating lbar l'8 has two main operating positions, one. corresponding to closedand the other open position of the jail doors. The indexing bar 19 has anumber-of different-operating positions, as will .be presently described.

With reference to the mechanism associated with the key lock 1 6 of each door, .thellatch Z'iiof this look is adapted toextendthrough an open- .ing 2.! in the .uprightirame portion II, where it engages a vertically .slidable latch .bar 28. This latch bar is suitably guided as .bylmeans-ofstuds 2%, and ithas an opening 3| into whichthe latch .25 ,may extend. :For that position of the latch bar 23 shown in Fig. 2 the latch 26 may be lifted by inserting and turning a key in the look assembly [6, thus permitting manual unlocking of the door. For a second operating position of the latch bar 28 shown in Fig. 9 there is no engagement with the latch 25 and therefore no key need be used in the lock assembly I6 in order to open the door. A second latch bar 33 is likewise slidably mounted within the upright frame .portion IT, as by means of the guide studs 34 and 29. Bar 33 is provided with a shoulder 36 which when engaged with the upper face of latch 26 as shown in Fig. 2, serves to dead lock latch 26 against unlocking movement by a key. When latch bar 33 is elevated to-the position illustrated in Fig. 4, there is no longer a dead lock and latch 29 may be lifted by a key.

At some region below the lock assembly IE, it is desirable to provide a lug 31 rigidly mounted upon the free edge of the door. This lug is accommodated in opening 38 in the frame, and also may extend through a slot or opening 39 in the lower end of the latch bar 33. The upper edge of lug 31 is provided with the oppositely sloped cam surfaces 4| and 42. When latch bar 33 is forced down in locked position as shown in Fig. 2, it exerts a camming action against the cam surface 4l as shown in Fig. 3, to positively draw the door tightly against the adjacent frame portion. Likewise if the door is not entirely closed at the time latch bar 33 is moved downwardly to dead locked position, such camming action forces the door fully closed.

The upper ends of the latch bars 28 and 33 are attached to corresponding bars 29a and 33a, and these bars are guided for vertical movement by the stationary bracket 43. Cam rollers 44 and 45 are mounted upon each of the bars 28a and 33a, and these rollers engage within the cam groove of a cam member 46. The cam groove afforded by member 46 is peculiarly constructed to impart certain movements to the bars 28a and 33a. For convenience, the different portions of the cam groove have been designated by letters a, b and 0. Without describing at this point the various operating positions for the cam member 46, it may be briefly pointed out that the groove portion a is inclined, portion b is substantially horizontal, and portion is likewise inclined. Cam 45 may be made in the form of a casting, clamped to the inner side of the bar l9 as by means of bolts 4'! (see Fig.7).

For slidably mounting each of the jail doors, the upper end of each door is attached to a hanger 49, which in turn is secured to a carriage This carriage is provided with rollers or wheels 52, which engage the longitudinal track 53. The lower wall of the housing I4 is provided with a longitudinal slot 54, to accommodate longitudinal movement of the hanger 49.

For certain operating positions of the index bar 19 the master operating bar I8 is operatively connected to each of the hangers 49, for operating the doors from the control cabinet. Thus each hanger 49 is provided with an upstanding portion 56, which in turn carries a stud or pin 51. The master operating bar l8 carries a lug 58 for each pin 51, and in the position illustrated in Fig. 2, movement of the bar I8 to the right, causes stud 58 to engage one side of the pin 51.

Each pin 5'! is also adapted to be engaged by a latch arm 59. This latch arm has a pivotal mounting Bl to the master operating bar 18, and the lower shoulder 62 on this latch arm is adapted to latch over and engage pin 51. For a reason to be presently explained latch arm 59 is also provided with an upstanding finger 63, which for one position of the index bar [9 and for open position of the master bar, is adapted to be engaged by the fixed lugs 64 on index bar l9. Latch arm 59 is also provided with a depending and offset finger 66 (see Figs. 2 and 6). Under certain operating conditions, finger 66 is adapted to be engaged by certain parts to lift latch arm 59 free of the pin 51.

Mounted upon the stationary bracket 2| by means of pivot pin 68, there is a member 69 which is provided with several portions for different functions. One upstanding arm portion H of this member is provided with a cam slot 1.2, to accommodate a pin 13 which in turn is mounted upon the index bar l9. Also member 69 includes a segmental shaped portion 14, the arcuate periphery of which is provided with a plurality of camming projections 16 and 11. The back side of this segmental portion carries a stud 15 adapted to engage the portion 65 of lug 63. In addition member 69 includes an arm portion '18, together with a ratchet extension 19. Arm portion 78 is formed to provide the recess 8|, for receiving the pin 51. Extension 19 is provided with the ratchet teeth 82, which under certain operating conditions may engage with pin 51. For the position of parts illustrated in Fig. 2, counter-clockwise rotation of member 69 will serve to bring projections 16 and 11 into engagement with the offset finger 66. Such engagement causes a rocking of the latch 59 to free it with respect to pin 51. V

Closely associated with the latch arm 59 and the member 69, there is an arm 84 which is freely pivoted upon pin 68. The free end of this arm has an upstanding portion 86, which in turn is provided with a laterally extending finger 8'!v (see Fig. 6) and a lug 88. Lug 83 has a lower inclined cam surface 89, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

In the position of parts illustrated in Fig. 2 arm 84 rests upon the upper end of a lug 9|, which in turn is fixed to the upstanding portion 53 of the hanger 49. The upper end of lug 9| is sloped to cooperate with the inclined end surface 92 of arm 84. When arm 84 drops downwardly due to movement of the door to the right (as viewed in Fig. 2) finger 81 comes to rest upon the upper edge of the index bar l9. Also the lug 88 is dropped down to a position in the path of movement of the pin 93. It may be explained at this point that such positioning of element 88 with respect to pin 93 will prevent final movement of the index bar to dead locked position illustrated in Fig. 2, should pin 93 be to the left of element 88, when arm 84 is in a lower position.

As previously stated the master and index bars are connected to levers located in a control cabinet, for operation from a remote point. Thus referring to Figs. 13 and 14, at one end of the tier of cells, the housing [4 communicates with the control cabinet l2, and the corresponding ends of the master and index bars [8 and I9 are connected to the index and master operating levers 96 and 91, through suitable linkage mechanisms. In order to avoid confusion these levers and their respective linkage mechanisms are shown in separate figures, it being understood however, that they are mounted in the same cabinet, side by side. The master lever 91 has a stationary pivotal mounting 98, the lever 91 extends between the segmental-shaped guides 99, which have two notches l0! and I02, corresponding to the two positions of this lever. The lever is also provided with a slldable spring-pressed latch I03, which can be released manually, for locking the lever in its two operating positions. The adjacent end of the master bar I8 is connected to the link bar I04, which in turn is pivotallyconnected to the free end of arm I06. The lower end of arm I06 has a pivotal connection I01 to the stationary bracket I08. An intermediate part of arm I06 is connected to the short link I09, which in turn has a pivotal connection III to the lever 91. It will be apparent that when the door IZa of the cabinet I2 is opened, one may manually swing lever 91 outwardly and upwardly, to cause the master bar [8 to be pulled to the right as viewed in Fig. 13.

The index lever 96 has a stationary pivotal mounting H2, and also extends between the arcuate guides I I3. These guides are provided with a plurality of notches numbered I to 5 inclusive. For locking the lever 99 in any one of the live different operating positions, the lever is shown provided with a latch bolt II4 which is spring pressed towards engagement with the notches, and which can be released from the handle. The adjacent end of the index bar I9 is connected to a link bar HE, which in turn connects to the upper free end of a lever I IT. The lower end of this lever has a pivotal connection H8 to the stationary bracket IZI. An intermediate part of lever II! has a pivotal connection to the link I22, and this link in turn has a pivotal connection I23 to the index lever 96. Thus upon moving lever 96 downwardly and inwardly from the position illustrated, in Fig. 14, index bar I9 is moved to the left as viewed in Fig. 13.

It is convenient to hav the front of the housing I4 closed by a plurality of doors or cover plates I26. Suitable means for detachably looking these plates to the housing, is illustrated in Fig. 7, and is substantially as disclosed and claimed in Ralston Patent No. 2,023A3'7. Briefly, a longitudinally slidable lock bar I21 extends through the housing, and this bar carries a plurality of locking pins I28. The pins I28 extend through openings in stationary lugs I29, and are also adapted to extend through openings provided in the webs of angle members 53!. Members I3I are attached to the cover plates I26, so that when bar I2! is moved ,to the left as viewed in Fig. 7, all of the cover plates are unlocked for removal. The means formoving bar I21 may be located within the control cabinet.

Operation of the apparatus described above can be explained as follows: As previously pointed out the indexing lever Qt'is located in the control cabinet I2, and is accessible to the jailer upon opening the door of the cabinet. The different notches numbered I to 5 inclusive, correspond to different operating positions, which can be outlined as follows:

1. Free unlocked position in which all of the doors are unlocked and can be opened individually.

2. Lever position in which all of the doors are unlocked and can be moved between open and closed positions in unison by operation of themaster operating lever.

3. Key position in which any one or all of the doors can be individually unlocked and opened by hand.

4. Ratchet position in which a partially opened door is held against further opening movement. V

5. Dead lockedposition in which all doors are fully closed and the key control latches dead locked.

Fig. 2 illustrates the position of the parts for the fifth or dead locked position. Note that the key operated latch 26 is dead locked by the lug 36 on latch bar 33. Also the lower door lug 3'? is locked with respect to the lower end of the latch bar 33 (Fig. 3). Latch bars 28 and 33 are in the position illustrated in Fig. 2 because cam roller 44 occupies the left-hand end of cam groove portion 1), while cam roller 45 occupies the lower left-hand end of cam groove portion a. At the same time the pin 51 which is carried by the door hanger 49, is locked with respect to the master bar I8, because it is adjacent the lug 58 on bar I 8, and is engaged by the latch shoulder 62 on latch arm 59. Also pin 51 is accommodated within the recess 8| provided on the member 69. Therefore for dead locked position the master bar I8 is locked in the position illustrated in Fig. 2, and the master operating lever 91 can not be moved from the position illustrated in Fig. 13.

Should the operator now desire to condition the apparatus to enable individual opening of any one of the doors, the indexing lever 9B is moved from the fifth position illustrated in Fig. 14, to the position corresponding to notch I. This serves to condition the parts associated with each door, substantially as illustrated in Fig. 9. It will be noted that cam member 46 has been shifted to its other extreme position, and that roller 44 now occupies the right-hand end of the cam groove portion 0. Roller 45 also occupies cam groove portion 0, so that both the latch bars 28 and 33 are intheir lowermost positions. As a result although lug 30 engages the key operated latch 26, the lowering of latch bar 23 leaves the key operated latch 26 free. At the same time the space above roller 45 permits limited upward movement of latch bar 33, such as is necessary for retraction of the door lug 31. Latch arm 59 is raised with respect to pin 51, by virtue of engagement of projection" on member 39 with the finger 66. It will be noted that projection 11 is brought into engagement with finger 66, because of counterclockwise rotation of member 69, due to its connection with pin 13 on the index bar I9. From the foregoing it will be clear that each of the doors is entirely free and can be individually opened and closed by the jailer. or by the inmates. One can not pick up open doors by operation of the master bar, because when the master bar is moved to its extreme position corresponding to open position of the doors, lugs 63 engage studs 64 to lift arms 59.

Assuming now that the operator desires to place the doors under the control of the master operating lever 91, the indexing lever 96 is moved to the notch 2 to place the index bar in the socalled lever position. The arrangement of parts for this position is shown in Fig. 10. Latch bar 28 is still in its lowered position so that it is not engaged by the key operatedlatch 26. Latch bar 33 is raised so that it need not be cammed upwardly, when a closed door is moved to open position. Member 69 has rotated a small amount in a clockwise direction, whereby cam projection'l'l is now out of engagement with finger 66. Therefore latch arm 59 has dropped back to the position illustrated in Fig. 2, for engagement with pin 51, or it has been forced back by engagement of stud 15 with portion 35 of lug 63. Under such conditions it will be evident that master operating bar I 8 can be moved; to the right as viewed in Fig. 10, by swinging the lever '91 outwardly and upwardly.

With respect to doors which are closed when the master operating lever 91 is swun outwardly and upwardly, such doors are moved to full open position. Doors which are already opened remain open, and when the master operating bar l8 reaches the limit of its movement, latch arm 59 latches over the pins 5'! of open doors. Therefore after such an opening movement, movement of master operating lever 91 back to its lowermost position causes all of the doors to move in unison to closed position.

Should the operator now care to condition the apparatus so that the jailer may unlock and lock doors individually by a key, then the indexing lever 96 is placed in the position corresponding to notch 3. The positioning of the parts corresponding to this third position is shown in Fig. 11. Both the latch bars 28 and 33 are in their raised positions since both rollers 44 and 45 are within the cam groove portion 1). Therefore lug 36 is dis-engaged with respect to the key operated latch 26, but latch 26 must be raised by a key to unlock the same from latch bar 28. Raised position of latch bar 33 effects dis-engagement with respect to the stationary door lug 31. Member 69 has been rotated a somewhat greater amount from the position shown in Fig. 10, and the cam projection 16 on this member has been brought into engagement with finger 66 on latch arm 59. Therefore this latch arm is again raised in dis-engaged position with respect to pin 51. It will be apparent that upon raising the latch 26 by a key, an individual door can be swung to open position. After certain individual doors have been moved to open position, such doors instead of being closed and locked manually, can be closed from the control cabinet by the master operating lever, merely by first moving the indexing lever 96 back to the position corresponding to notch 2, and by moving the master lever 91 to its raised position, and then back to its lowermost position.

When an operator desires to dead lock all of the doors in closed position, it may happen that one or more of the doors may be partially opened, due for example to an obstruction. This will be indicated to the operator by his inability to move the master operating lever 91 back to lowermost position, with the indexing lever 96 in a position corresponding to notch 2. Should this situation arise the operator can immediately move the indexing lever 96 to the position corresponding to the notch 4, whereby any doors which are partly open are held against further opening r movement. Positioning of the parts corresponding to this so-called ratchet position, is shown in Fig. 12. Sufiicient clockwise movement of member 69 has occurred to enable'the ratchet teeth 82 on extension #9 to engage the pin 51. Thus a partially opened door such as illustrated in Fig. 12 is held against further opening movement, and if it is the only open door, it can be forced completely closed because of the, slope of ratchet teeth 82. Should an obstruction prevent complete closing of one or more of the doors, this is indicated to the operator by the failure. of master operating member 91 to move to its lowermost position, in which event there will be assurance against any further opening movement of the doors. Upon removing the obstruction or other difliculty, the doors can be completely closed by completing the movement of the master control bar 91. Thereafter it is. possible to move the index lever 99 to the dead locked position previously described.

The dead lock position of lever 96 not only serves to dead look all of the doors from the control cabinet, but also it indicates to the operator that all of the doors are fully closed and dead locked. It is impossible for lever 96 to be shifted to dead lock position when any one door is open or partly open, because of interference of the corresponding lug 88 with pin 93. It is only when a door is fully closed that it corresponding member 86 is raised to permit the associated pin 93 to pass beneath the lug 88.

- It will be evident from the above that my construction affords many features to prevent operation of the jail doors such as might invite a jail break. Although individual opening and closing of the doors is carried out manually there is provision for unison opening and closing from a control cabinet, and the operation of the levers in the control cabinet is such that an operator can instantly detect any abnormal condition of the doors. The parts utilized are not unduly complicated, and are capable of operating to a high degree of reliability.

I claim:

1. In a jail lock system for controlling a plurality of sliding jail doors, each of said doors being provided with a key control lock, 2. control station remote from the doors, an indexing bar extending from said station along said doors, a control member at said station connected to said bar and movable to a plurality of positions to correspondingly position the bar, a master operating bar extending from said station along said doors, a second manual control member at said station for moving said master control bar, releasable clutch connections between said doors and the master control bar, means for causing engagement of said clutching means for either one of two positions of the indexing bar, ratchet devices associated with the doors, said ratchet devices being movable to either out-of-the-way or engaged positions, the ratchet devices when in engaged positions serving to prevent further opening movement of partly open doors, and means formoving said ratchet devices to engaged positions of the same responsive to movement of the indexing bar to one of said two positions, and also serving to move said ratchet devices to disengaged position responsive to movement of said indexing bar to said other one of said two positions.

2. In a jail lock system for controlling a plurality of sliding jail doors, each of said doors being provided with a key control lock, a control station remote from the doors, an indexing bar extending from said station along said doors, a control member at said station connected to said bar and movable to a plurality of positions to correspondingly position the bar, a master operating bar extending from said station along said doors, a second manual control member at said station for moving said master control bar, releasable clutch connections between said doors and the master control bar, means for causing engagement of said clutching means for either one of two positions of the indexing bar, ratchet devices associated with the doors, said ratchet devices being movable to either out-of-the-way or engaged positions, the ratchet devices when in engaged positions serving to prevent further opening movement of partly open doors, means for moving said ratchet devices to engaged positions of the same responsive to movement of the indexing bar to one of said two positions, and also serving to move said ratchet devices to disengaged position responsive to movement of said indexing bar to said other one of said two positions, and means for freeing the key locking means for all of the doors responsive to movement of the indexing bar to another position, said last position being in addition to the aforesaid two positions, movement of the indexing bar to said last position serving to disengage said clutch connections.

3. In a jail lock system for controlling aplurality of sliding jail doors, each of said doors being provided with a key control look, a control station remote from the doors, an indexing bar extending from said station along said doors, a control member at said station connected to said bar and movable to a plurality of .positions to correspondingly position the bar, a master operating bar extending from said station along said doors, a second manual control member at said station for moving said master control bar, releasable clutch connections between said doors and the master control bar, means for causing engagement of said clutching means for either one of two positions of the indexing bar, ratchet devices associated with the doors, said ratchet devices being movable to either out-of-the-way or engaged positions, the ratchet devices when in engaged positions serving to prevent further opening movement of partly open doors, means for moving said ratchet devices to engaged positions of the same responsive to movement of the indexing bar to one of said two positions, and also serving to move said ratchet devices to disengaged position responsive to movement of said indexing bar to said other one of said two positions, means for freeing the key locking means for all of the doors responsive to movement of the indexing bar to another position, and means for dead locking each of the doors in closed position responsive to movement of the indexing bar to still another position, said last two positions being in addition to the aforesaid two positions, movement of the indexing bar to said free lock position from said first two positions serving to disengage said clutch connections.

HARRY J. RALSTON. 

